neither

Neither is defined as not one nor the other of two things actually happened or was true.

An example of neither is when you are not hot and you are not cold.

pronoun

Neither means not one or the other of two things.

An example of neither is when Jim did not go to the party and Sally did not go to the party.

neither

not one or the other (of two); not either: neither boy went; neither of them was invited

Origin of neither

Middle English naither, altered (by associated, association with eyther, either) ; from nauther ; from Old English na-hwæther, literally , not whether (see no, whether), not either of two

not either: the first element of the pair of correlatives neither … nor, indicating negation of both parts of the statement [I could neither laugh nor cry]: neither … nor is sometimes used to refer to more than two, although this use is objected to by some [the shop sells neither tobacco, beer, nor wine]

nor: indicating another, or a further, negative: he does not smoke, and neither do I

Informal, Dial. any more than the other; also: used after negative expressions: if she won't go, I won't neither

neither

adjective

Not one or the other; not either: Neither shoe feels comfortable.

pron.

Not either one; not the one or the other: Neither of the twins is here. Neither will do. Neither of them is incorrect.

conjunction

Not either; not in either case. Used with the correlative conjunction nor: Neither we nor they want it. She neither called nor wrote. I got neither the gift nor the card.

Also not: If he won't go, neither will she.

adverb

Similarly not; also not: Just as you would not, so neither would they.

Origin of neither

Middle English, from Old English nawther, nahwæther (influenced by æghwæther, ægther, either) : na, not; see ne in Indo-European roots + hwæther, which of two; see kwo- in Indo-European roots. Usage Note: According to the traditional rule, neither is used only to mean “not one or the other of two.” To refer to “none of several,” none is preferred: None (not neither) of the three opposition candidates would make a better president than the incumbent. &bullet; The traditional rule also holds that neither is grammatically singular: Neither candidate is having an easy time with the press. However, it is often used with a plural verb, especially when followed by of and a plural: Neither of the candidates are really expressing their own views. &bullet; As a conjunction neither is properly followed by nor, not or, in formal style: Neither prayers nor curses (not or curses) did any good. See Usage Notes at either, every, he1, none, nor1, or1.

Neither is used to mean none of two or more. Although some suggest that using the word neither with more than two items is incorrect, it has been commonly used to refer to more than two subjects since the 17th century. The more modern usage does prefer none with more than two things.

There is considerable variation in the number of the verb employed with this construction.

Examples:

"That woman was neither a collector nor an art critic, but she understood the meaning I meant to give that work." "” Marcelle Ferron

"Has anyone ever loved you so much that they tried to kill you, or perhaps sucked you down into a hole so that you had to kill them to get away? Yeah, me neither." "” Maynard James Keenan

"You can make a lot of money in this game. Just ask my ex-wives. Both of them are so rich that neither of their husbands work." "” Lee Trevino

"As if it were gold and could be neither good nor bad nor worth more nor worth less but must always be worth the same no matter what." "” Alex Miller

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!" "” Rudyard Kipling